The Iranian regime released a statement Thursday threatening to start up “industrial-scale enrichment” of uranium unless other parties to the nuclear deal agree to remain after the U.S. withdrawal. Iran’s Foreign Minister, Javad Zarif, published a letter containing the threat on Twitter this morning:

Statement by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran on U.S. Government withdrawal from the nuclear deal (#JCPOA) https://t.co/xG2tsB2GQH pic.twitter.com/W0gfz7UXF9

— Javad Zarif (@JZarif) May 11, 2018

The letter states, “the President of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran has been tasked with taking all necessary steps in preparation for Iran to pursue industrial-scale enrichment without any restrictions, using the results of the latest research and development of Iran’s brave nuclear scientists.” Not mentioned in the letter is why Iran would need industrial-scale enrichment of uranium for its supposedly peaceful nuclear program. The letter also explicitly rejects any changes to the timeframes spelled out in the JCPOA or to any restrictions on its development of ballistic missiles:

None of the provisions or timeframes within the JCPOA, which were the subject of twelve years of negotiations, are negotiable in any manner….The U.S. and its allies…are in no position to impose restrictions on the Islamic Republic of Iran’s lawful means of defense, including defensive ballistic missiles which have been designed to carry conventional weapons based on the bitter experiences of the war with the regime of Saddam Hussein.

This last part is the repetition of a lie which Iran has been telling for more than a decade. In 2005 an unnamed Member State turned over thousands of pages of documents on Iran’s weapons research to the IAEA. An investigation by the IAEA concluded the research carried out by Iran could only have been intended for the creation of nuclear warheads. Here’s the relevant section of that report:

The Agency, in conjunction with experts from Member States other than those which had provided the information in question, carried out an assessment of the possible nature of the new payload. As a result of that assessment, it was concluded that any payload option other than nuclear which could also be expected to have an airburst option (such as chemical weapons) could be ruled out. Iran was asked to comment on this assessment and agreed in the course of a meeting with the Agency which took place in Tehran in May 2008 that, if the information upon which it was based were true, it would constitute a programme for the development of a nuclear weapon. Attachment 2 to this Annex reproduces the results of the Agency’s assessment as it was presented by the Secretariat to the Member States in the technical briefing which took place in February 2008.

And here is the chart created based on input from experts:

That Iran was engaged in nuclear missile research was further verified last month when Israel revealed the contents of tons of nuclear research material it had covertly removed from Iran (Netanyahu’s presentation is below). Iran appears to be making a not very subtle threat that if Europe doesn’t remain in the JCPOA, it will ramp up its nuclear enrichment and, regardless of what else happens, plans to continue its missile research.